Epistemic Foundations of Eco-Efficiency and Social Responsibility in Environmental and Business Performance

Currently, the theoretical basis of eco-efficiency in responsible and social development has promoted a philosophy of sustainable and environmental thinking, which is to provide solutions to the imbalance in the company–environment relationship. Thus, this scientific article is presented with the purpose of deepening the importance of eco-efficiency in responsible and social development and strengthening environmental performance. A quantitative–qualitative approach was used. The phenomenological interpretation to respond to environmental problems also describes the theoretical basis in a substantive way. In this sense, the optimization of resources is sought, with the vision of innovation and the commitment of each organization to be responsible for the high levels of pollution. Therefore, it is concluded that business awareness should be promoted, with approaches to mitigate environmental pollution. Thus, it is necessary to have government policies that motivate businessmen to change their relationship with the environment, based on transition and sustainable development for the integral development of the country. It is also necessary to articulate with the educational institutions at all levels to form beings sensitive to the interest and care for the environment. Keywords: eco-efficiency, social responsibility, environmental performance, sustainability. Resumen En la actualidad, las bases teóricas de la ecoeficiencia en el desarrollo responsable y social, ha fomentado una filosofía del pensamiento sostenible y ambiental, que consiste en dar soluciones al desequilibrio en la relación empresa – ambiente, para tal efecto se presenta el artículo científico, con el propósito de profundizar la importancia de ecoeficiencia en el desarrollo responsable y social y fortalecer el performance ambiental, para lo cual se construye desde el enfoque cuantitativo – cualitativo; la interpretación fenomenológica para responder los problemas ambientales; además se describe las bases teóricas de una manera sustantiva. En este sentido se busca la optimización de recursos, con la visión de innovación y el compromiso de cada organización de ser responsable de los altos niveles de contaminación. Por tanto, se concluye que se debe fomentar la conciencia empresarial, con planteamientos para mitigar la contaminación ambiental. Así pues, es necesario que existan políticas gubernamentales que motiven a los empresarios al cambio en la relación con el medio ambiente, con base en la transición y el desarrollo sostenible para el desarrollo integral del país. Ahora también, se debe articular con las instituciones educativas en todos los niveles para formar seres sensibles al interés y cuidado al ambiente. Palabras Clave: ecoeficiencia, responsabilidad social, performance ambiental, sostenibilidad

Diseño y construcción de una planta deshidratadora de romero automatizada con monitoreo mediante aplicación móvil para la comunidad San José de Gaushi-Riobamba.

El objetivo de la investigación fue el diseño y construcción de una planta deshidratadora de romero automatizada con monitoreo mediante aplicación móvil en la comunidad San José de Gaushi-Riobamba. Se recolectó información de investigaciones acerca de deshidratadores solares y de los procesos locales para determinar el mejor método de deshidratación para el romero. Con lo establecido por la norma NTE INEN 2392, se determinó la humedad relativa final del producto en la etapa de deshidratación. Para la implementación se utilizaron sensores de temperatura, de GLP e iluminación, y como actuadores calefactores a GLP. Se utilizaron controladores con conexiones tanto alámbricas e inalámbricas, se implementó una red de internet para establecer comunicación entre los dispositivos, para la transferencia de datos de valores de sensores y estados del deshidratador se utilizó el protocolo de comunicación MODBUS TCP/IP, se implementó un tablero de control y una interfaz hombre máquina para la interacción con el operario. El monitoreo se realizó mediante una aplicación móvil que visualiza los datos de los sensores en tiempo real mediante el uso de una base de datos. Con el sistema implementado, disminuyó el tiempo de deshidratación en un 50%, aumentó la capacidad de romero por proceso en un 320% y se obtuvo una humedad relativa del producto significativamente igual al 12%. Se logró realizar el monitoreo de las variables del proceso mediante una interfaz hombre maquina local y por la aplicación móvil desde cualquier punto de conexión a internet. Se concluye que el proceso automatizado comparado con el proceso manual, requiere de menos recursos para producir mayor cantidad de producto y con un menor porcentaje de pérdidas. Se recomienda realizar las investigaciones y pruebas necesarias para utilizar este sistema con otro tipo de plantas medicinales que son cultivadas dentro de la comunidad.The objective of this research study was to design and construct an automated rosemary dehydration factory, monitored via mobile application, in the San José de Gaushi-Riobamba community. Previous research focusing on solar dehydrators and local processes was reviewed to determine the best dehydration method for rosemary. Following the provisions of the NTE INEN 2392 standard, the final relative humidity of the product was determined in the dehydration stage. Temperature, LPG and lighting sensors, and LPG heating actuators were used to implement the process. Controllers with both wired and wireless connections were used and an internet network was implemented to establish communication between the devices. The MODBUS TCP/IP communication protocol was used to transfer data on sensor values and dehydrator states and a control panel and a human-machine interface was implemented for interaction with the operator. Monitoring was carried out through a mobile application that visualized the data from the sensors in real time through the use of a database. With the system implemented, dehydration time was reduced by 50%, rosemary capacity per process increased by 320% and a relative humidity of the product was significantly equal to 12%. The process variables were monitored through a local human-machine interface and through the mobile application from any Internet connection point. It was concluded that the automated process, as compared to the manual process, required fewer resources to produce a greater quantity of the product and with a lower percentage of losses. It is recommended to carry out the necessary research and tests to use this system with other types of medicinal plants that are cultivated within the community

Prevalencia de signos ecográficos de Enfermedad Aterosclerótica de las Arterias Carótidas (CAAD) en pacientes con diabetes tipo 2 asintomáticos para presencia de enfermedad cerebrovascular (ECV), atendidos en el Hospital Escuela Dr. Roberto Calderón Gutiérrez, entre Octubre y Diciembre del 2020

Con el objetivo de determinar la prevalencia de signos ecográficos de Enfermedad Aterosclerótica de la Arteria Carótida (EAAC) en pacientes con diabetes tipo 2 asintomáticos para presencia de enfermedad cerebrovascular (ECV), atendidos en el Hospital Escuela Dr. Roberto Calderón Gutiérrez, entre octubre y diciembre del 2020, se llevó a cabo un estudio de prevalencia, descriptivo de corte transversal, en el cual se realizó evaluación ecográfica en modo B y Doppler de las arterias carótidas en 106 pacientes con diabetes tipo 2 pero sin signos clínicos de enfermedad cerebrovascular. Entre los principales hallazgos se observó el aumento del grosor de la íntima-media carotídea y la presencia de placa carotídea como trastornos frecuentes en la población de pacientes diabéticos asintomáticos para enfermedad cerebrovascular. Nuestro estudio revelo una prevalencia de enfermedad ateroesclerótica subclínica que varió entre el 27 y 44% de los pacientes investigados. También se observó que la prevalencia de aumento del grosor de la íntima-media carotídea, placa carotídea y estenosis carotídea, aumentó con la edad y fue mayor en hombres que en mujeres. Otros factores que influyeron en al aumento de la prevalencia fue la concomitancia con la hipertensión arterial y dislipidemia. En pacientes asintomáticos con HTA la prevalencia alcanzó 44% y en pacientes con dislipidemia 47%. A partir de los resultados de este estudio recomendamos establecer un protocolo de evaluación ecográfica de las arterias carótidas en pacientes diabéticos asintomáticos para enfermedad cerebrovascular y que este sea considerado un examen tanto de evaluación inicial como de seguimientos, en los casos atendidos en la consulta externa del Hospital, ya que los hallazgos de este estudio contribuyen a la evidencia sólida de que la diabetes está relacionada con un aumento de los niveles de daño vascular y una detección temprana de los cambios vasculares en la diabetes es un paso importante en la prevención temprana y eficaz de los accidentes cerebrovasculares y las enfermedades cardiovasculare

Susceptibilidad de los movimientos en Masa a partir de variables que intervienen en la dinámica y desarrollo de fenómenos naturales, en el Volcán Concepción, Isla de Ometepe, durante el periodo Julio 2016-Julio 2017

El área de estudio de la investigación es el volcán Concepción, se encuentra ubicado en la Isla de Ometepe en la región sur de Nicaragua, comprendiendo 176 Km2, con un relieve moderado a abrupto, geológicamente está conformado por rocas volcánicas recientes productos de erupciones volcánicas y unidades generadas por movimiento en masa. El estudio se desarrolló con apoyo del Instituto de Geología y Geofísica de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (IGG-CIGEO-UNAN-MANAGUA), en el marco del Proyecto USAID-CSUCA.La investigación tiene como objetivo zonificar áreas potencialmente susceptibles a todo tipo de movimientos en masa en la Isla de Ometepe, por medio del método heurístico el cual consiste en combinar mapas temáticos calificados, asignándoles pesos, según el grado de importancia que estos tengan, con el uso de la herramienta SIG (Sistemas de Información Geográficas), utilizando el programa ArcMap 10.2 para así obtener mapas de susceptibilidad a movimientos de masa en el área.En lo que respecta a la obtención del mapa de Susceptibilidad a Escala 1: 50000 se analizan 8 variables que son: Pendiente, Geología, Uso de suelo, Drenajes, Escarpes, Precipitaciones, Sismos y Fallas. Las variables de fallas, sismos, drenajes y escarpes se le asignan un multibuffer debido a las posibles derivaciones que puedan tener al momento de un movimiento de lader Además, se tomaron cuatro rangos de Susceptibilidad: I: Baja; II; Media: III; Alta: IV; Muy alta para el análisis dentro del estudio. De acuerdo a los resultados y las características involucradas en cada mapa las zonas con una alta susceptibilidad corresponden a las comunidades de: La Concepción, La Flor, San Marcos, La Paloma, Parte Oeste de San José del Sur, Santa Teresa, Los Ramos, La unión, Urbaite y Sintiope. Estas son las principales comunidades que son afectados por la susceptibilidad Muy Alta, y el principal factor detonante son las precipitaciones. Esta investigación contribuirá al desarrollo socioeconómico del área de estudio y la toma de decisiones de las autoridades correspondiente dentro del municipio, así como también aporta al conocimiento científico para futuras investigaciones que se logren desarrollar en este mismo contexto

Environmental microbiome mapping as a strategy to improve quality and safety in the food industry

In food industries, an environmentally-adapted microbiome can colonize the surfaces of equipment and tools and be transferred to the food product or intermediates of production. These complex microbial consortia may include microbial spoilers, pathogens, as well as beneficial microbes. Advances in sequencing technologies and metagenomics provide the opportunity to map the environmental microbiome in food industries at an unprecedented depth, highlighting the importance of the resident microbial communities in influencing food quality and safety, as well as the main factors shaping its composition and activities. However, specific technical issues must be considered. Although microbiome mapping in the food industry has the potential to revolutionize food safety and quality management systems, its application as routine practice is still challenging and technical issues limit the exploitation of the powerful information that can be obtained by the application of such state-of-the-art approaches

Photovoltaic power supply system and data logging in the cloud through IOT for a device to detect gray spot on the cape gooseberry leaf.

Se implementó una Base de datos por medio de la plataforma de análisis IoT Thing Speak para publicar, almacenar y visualizar la información adquirida (Humedad, Temperatura y porcentaje de afección) por el dispositivo detector de Mancha gris sobre la hoja de uchuva. Para ello se utilizó como microprocesador la tarjeta Raspberry Pi y con el lenguaje de programación Python se implementó el protocolo MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) para conectar y enviar los datos de los sensores al Bróker asignado. Además, se adaptó un sistema de carga fotovoltaico al dispositivo detector de Mancha gris para la carga y sostenibilidad de la alimentación del proyecto, finalmente se creó un manual básico para que el usuario conozca el manejo y cuidado del dispositivo.A database was implemented through the IoT Thing Speak analysis platform to publish, store and visualize the information acquired (humidity, temperature and percentage of affection) by the gray spot detector device on the cape gooseberry leaf. For this purpose, the Raspberry Pi card was used as a microprocessor and the MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) protocol was implemented with the Python programming language to connect and send the data from the sensors to the assigned Broker. In addition, a photovoltaic charging system was adapted to the gray spot detector device for the charging and sustainability of the project's power supply. Finally, a basic manual was created for the user to learn about the handling and care of the device

Delimiting Cryptic Morphological Variation among Human Malaria Vector Species using Convolutional Neural Networks

Deep learning is a powerful approach for distinguishing classes of images, and there is a growing interest in applying these methods to delimit species, particularly in the identification of mosquito vectors. Visual identification of mosquito species is the foundation of mosquito-borne disease surveillance and management, but can be hindered by cryptic morphological variation in mosquito vector species complexes such as the malaria-transmitting Anopheles gambiaecomplex. We sought to apply Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to images of mosquitoes as a proof-of-concept to determine the feasibility of automatic classification of mosquito sex, genus, species, and strains using whole-body, 2D images of mosquitoes. We introduce a library of 1, 709 images of adult mosquitoes collected from 16 colonies of mosquito vector species and strains originating from five geographic regions, with 4 cryptic species not readily distinguishable morphologically even by trained medical entomologists. We present a methodology for image processing, data augmentation, and training and validation of a CNN. Our best CNN configuration achieved high prediction accuracies of 96.96% for species identification and 98.48% for sex. Our results demonstrate that CNNs can delimit species with cryptic morphological variation, 2 strains of a single species, and specimens from a single colony stored using two different methods. We present visualizations of the CNN feature space and predictions for interpretation of our results, and we further discuss applications of our findings for future applications in malaria mosquito surveillance

Habitat selection by free-roaming domestic dogs in rabies endemic countries in rural and urban settings.

Domestic dogs can affect human health through bites and pathogen transmission, particularly in resource-poor countries where dogs, including owned ones, predominantly roam freely. Habitat and resource selection analysis methods are commonplace in wildlife studies but have not been used to investigate the environmental resource use of free-roaming domestic dogs (FRDD). The present study implements GPS devices to investigate habitat selection by FRDD from an urban site and a rural site in Indonesia, and one urban and two rural sites in Guatemala (N = 321 dogs). Spatial mixed effects logistic regression models, accounting for heterogeneous distribution of the resources, showed that patterns of habitat selection by FRDD were similar across study sites. The most preferred resources were anthropogenic, being buildings and roads, which implies selection for human proximity. Vegetation and open fields were less preferred and steep terrain was avoided, indicating that FRDD were synanthropic and that their space patterns likely optimised energy use. Results presented here provide novel data on FRDD habitat selection patterns, while improving our understanding of dog roaming behaviour. These findings provide insights into possible high-risk locations for pathogen transmission for diseases such as rabies, and can assist management authorities in the planning and deployment of efficient disease control campaigns, including oral vaccination

Publications in Psychology Related to the COVID-19: A Bibliometric Analysis

The new strain of a virus in the coronavirus family, COVID-19, generated a pandemic that changed the dynamics of the entire world. Since its inception, there have been discussions about the effects on mental health that isolation and social distancing can generate. To investigate the publications that have been made in psychology related to COVID-19, a bibliometric analysis was performed in the SCOPUS database in the psychology collection. We obtained 223 articles published in the first half of 2020. The results show that the studies are focused on the effects of the pandemic on mental health. Specifically, most of the studies are related to anxiety and depression and most of these studies were conducted in China. Furthermore, we discuss some limitations of the study regarding the social and intellectual structure of the articles retrieved. Finally, we suggest that future studies should explore how to promote or persuade individuals to comply with social distancing measures and to develop research focused on the effects of the pandemic on academic performance, job stress, job performance, marital satisfaction, sexual behaviour, among other phenomena

Estimation of free-roaming domestic dog population size: Investigation of three methods including an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based approach

Population size estimation is performed for several reasons including disease surveillance and control, for example to design adequate control strategies such as vaccination programs or to estimate a vaccination campaign coverage. In this study, we aimed at investigating the possibility of using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to estimate the size of free-roaming domestic dog (FRDD) populations and compare the results with two regularly used methods for population estimations: foot-patrol transect survey and the human: dog ratio estimation. Three studies sites of one square kilometer were selected in Petén department, Guatemala. A door-to-door survey was conducted in which all available dogs were marked with a collar and owner were interviewed. The day after, UAV flight were performed twice during two consecutive days per study site. The UAV's camera was set to regularly take pictures and cover the entire surface of the selected areas. Simultaneously to the UAV's flight, a foot-patrol transect survey was performed and the number of collared and non-collared dogs were recorded. Data collected during the interviews and the number of dogs counted during the foot-patrol transects informed a capture-recapture (CR) model fit into a Bayesian inferential framework to estimate the dog population size, which was found to be 78, 259, and 413 in the three study sites. The difference of the CR model estimates compared to previously available dog census count (110 and 289) can be explained by the fact that the study population addressed by the different methods differs. The human: dog ratio covered the same study population as the dog census and tended to underestimate the FRDD population size (97 and 161). Under the conditions within this study, the total number of dogs identified on the UAV pictures was 11, 96, and 71 for the three regions (compared to the total number of dogs counted during the foot-patrol transects of 112, 354 and 211). In addition, the quality of the UAV pictures was not sufficient to assess the presence of a mark on the spotted dogs. Therefore, no CR model could be implemented to estimate the size of the FRDD using UAV. We discussed ways for improving the use of UAV for this purpose, such as flying at a lower altitude in study area wisely chosen. We also suggest to investigate the possibility of using infrared camera and automatic detection of the dogs to increase visibility of the dogs in the pictures and limit workload of finding them. Finally, we discuss the need of using models, such as spatial capture-recapture models to obtain reliable estimates of the FRDD population. This publication may provide helpful directions to design dog population size estimation methods using UAV